To Find The Best Sweet Potato Pie Ask A Crawfordville, Ga., Resident

April 18, 1985|By Jane and Michael Stern, Universal Press Syndicate

CRAWFORDVILLE, GA. — We breezed into town about 8 in the morning, in search of Mrs. Bonner's Cafe. It had been described in a letter from Mrs. Harold Uttley of Charlotte, N.C., as ''something from yesteryear.'' She had written that Mrs. Bonner's sweet potato pie was the best she had ever eaten . . . a declaration that called for some intensive reconnaissance work as we headed east out of Atlanta.

We found the right street, but where was Mrs. Bonner's? When questioned, a passerby grinned knowingly and directed us to a plain storefront identified only by a small sign that read ''Cafe.'' Its windows were draped with heavy curtains.

Overhead fans spun slowly above the booths in the high-ceilinged dining room. After a short wait, a wisp of a lady appeared from the back, carrying coffee in two weathered mugs that must have held a million gallons each through the years. This was Mrs. Bonner, proprietor and chef since 1926.

''I didn't make any biscuits this morning,'' she announced without a hint of apology in her voice. ''I'm lazy today.''

''Too lazy to make sweet potato pie?'' we asked.

She fixed us with a hard gaze. ''Are you sure you know what that is?''

''Yes, and we would like two pieces for breakfast.''

''Well, fine,'' Mrs. Bonner said, toddling back to the kitchen and returning with two slim triangles of pumpkin-colored pie. She explained to us that many of her regular customers have a piece of pie after breakfast. ''That's the way real country folks like it,'' she added cheerfully including us in the elite club of morning pie eaters despite our out-of-state license plates.

We dug in. A meditative silence descended over the table as we savored Mrs. Bonner's country wonder in a crust. Its mellowness explained why almost every unaffected Southerner says ''tater'' rather than ''potato'' pie. Potato is sophisticated-sounding, a three-syllable word. Tater is infantile, appropriate for pie that is as yummy as one's best-remembered high-chair food.

She came to Augusta 60 years ago, fresh from the country with all her mother's recipes in her head. She enrolled in a cooking school, but didn't like it one bit. ''All they teach in cooking school is how to measure,'' Mrs. Bonner told us, her crackly voice streaked with irony. ''I didn't go to Augusta to learn to measure. I never measure when I cook.''

So she dropped out of school and opened her cafe. It has thrived ever since. Mrs. Bonner still never measures and never uses written recipes. But the 82-year-old Wonder Woman continues to serve some of the best cafe meals in Georgia, six days a week. ''You get on your roller skates and go,'' is how she explains her philosophy of work.

The food she serves is the kind of soulful country vittles that no school can ever teach: fried chicken, pork chops and stuffing, baked ham, and barbecue, everything accompanied by a slew of vegetables. In addition to the renowned sweet tater pie, there are coconut and lemon pies; and just recently she taught one of her helpers how to make apple pie. ''People come here all the time to buy pies whole and take them back to Augusta,'' she told us.

Each time we pass through Georgia, we route ourselves into Crawfordville for at least a couple pieces of pie and a morning visit.

Mrs. Bonner uses no spices at all in her sweet tater pie -- a plain and pure approach we have used in our adaptation of her unwritten recipe. We like the lush flavor of sweet potatoes accented only by vanilla. For an extra kick, you may want to doll up the pie with the addition of 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, or a tablespoon of grated lemon rind and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

SWEET TATER PIE

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (if using canned potatoes, do not use the ones packed in syrup)